Radiation has been used by humans in numerous ways. The most well known destructive application of radiation is atomic bombs. The electromagnetic radiation released by an atomic bomb can penetrate deeply into human tissue to damage human cells. The threat posed by atomic bombs has arguably increased in recent years with the growth of terrorism and the very real possibility that a “dirty bomb” can be made by terrorists through use of readily available nuclear waste materials. The destructive threat to humanity of such nuclear bombs has given rise to a need for cost-effective radiation protection, including the need for lightweight radiation protective garments. Ideally, such lightweight radiation protective garments would simultaneously provide protection against other types of hazards, such as fire, chemical, biological, projectile hazards and other forms of electromagnetic radiation. In this way, first responders, such as firemen, paramedics, policemen or the military, could use a single garment to provide them with protection against any type of hazard they might foreseeably confront. Such “universal” protective garments are addressed in Applicants' U.S. Pat. No. 6,841,791, entitled “Multiple Hazard Protection Articles And Methods For Making Them,” the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference.
A number of constructive uses have also been developed for harnessing radiation. These constructive uses include medical x-rays and nuclear power plants. Other constructive uses of radiation, though, remain undiscovered. For example, in many industries, automated, high-speed machines are used to manufacture products quickly and inexpensively. The food industry is one such industry. For example, machines largely do the manufacture and packaging of the many popular brands of breakfast cereals. To market this mass-produced breakfast cereal, the breakfast cereal manufacturers often include a prize or “premium” inside the cereal box, such as a model of a popular superhero. This premium is typically inserted and sealed into the box by machine during the packaging process.
Where high speed, automated manufacturing processes are used, there is a need for quality control procedures. Returning to the cereal box example, if the cereal box assembly machine runs out of premiums or has its premium insertion apparatus jammed, a number of cereal boxes might be sealed, shipped and sold without the premium. Since, for children's cereals, the cereal box is often purchased for the primary purpose of receiving the premium inside, the manufacturer's failure to include the premium in the cereal box can lead to angry and disillusioned customers.
As such, there is a need, particularly in the high speed manufacturing art, to be able to quickly check to see if the manufactured product is made in full compliance with the company's manufacturing standards (e.g., including any premium) and that the product is also free of foreign contaminants. In the case of cereal boxes, this includes making sure that all of the cereal boxes which are supposed to have premiums actually have them and lack foreign contaminants, such as stones and metals, which can inadvertently enter the final assembly.
While visual inspection by humans is often performed to maintain quality control, visual inspection is difficult to effectively perform for products manufactured on a high-speed assembly line. One problem with visual inspection is giving the human inspector enough time to perform a proper inspection without slowing down the manufacturing process. In the case of trying to detect premiums in cereal boxes, this problem is compounded by the fact that the cereal box is visually opaque and, as such, not amenable to visual inspection of items, such as premiums, which are inside the cereal box.